The 37-year-old, from Whickham, Gateshead, first came up with the idea in October 2011 after finding an old pair of shoes in the bottom of her wardrobe in need of a little tender loving care.

She said: “They still looked great, but had heels that were so badly scuffed they were unwearable.

“The shoes still had so much life in them and were comfy too, so I felt I just couldn’t part with them. It was then I decided to save my shoes from the rubbish tip by customising the heels with gold glitter and so Twinkle My Toes was born.”

The website enables a customer to build a picture of how their finished shoe will look and has the option of changing the style, colour and which parts of the shoe they’d like transformed. They then send the shoes to the company for a revamp.

“Many of us have comfy old shoes lying around that just require a little bit of tweaking to make them good as new again,” said Virgo. “It’s a cost-effective way of reusing old shoes that would otherwise end up in a charity bag or, worse, in the bin.

“Plus there’s no breaking in, so they’re perfect for a comfortable night on the town.”

Virgo launched her first business Uneak Boutique, an online jewellery venture, in July 2010.

She has plans to develop the shoe customisation service further with the addition of crystal embellishments and hand-painted designs.

There will also be extra styles added to the website including trainers and children’s shoes.